Synopsis

In the aftermath of Amagami SS, high school student Junichi Tachibana continues his relationships with the girls at his school. Amagami SS+ Plus offers a glimpse into what happened after the resolution of each girl's individual story.

New events begin to take place between each of the girls and Junichi. Tsukasa Ayatsuji, the class representative, runs for student council president; Rihoko Sakurai, who has taken over the Tea Club with Junichi, still wants to confess her feelings to him; Ai Nanasaki questions the future of her relationship with Junichi when he leaves for college; Kaoru Tanamachi wonders if her relationship with Junichi will ever go any further; Sae Nakata and Junichi deal with classmates who still can't believe that someone so cute is his girlfriend; and Haruka Morishima wants to take their relationship to the next level and get married.

Amagami SS+ Plus is the second season to the show Amagami SS. This review will try to cater to any viewer, whether you watched to first season or not. Therefore, there are no spoilers. Also another thing to note, most of this review was formulated before the show finished airing. Because none of my thoughts have changed since the writing of this review to the very end, I added an extra paragraph at the end of my initial review for any thoughts I figured you guys would want to know, rather than rewrite the whole review.

To recap, let's briefly jump back to the concept of
the first season. Amagami SS was a story of a guy named Tachibana Junichi that got stood up by his date on Christmas Eve two years ago. In the present, Junichi is very melancholy about his love life, but is presented with many ways to get the date he was never able to get.

Basically, the story, which runs in omnibus format, is about a guy named Junichi, who technically dates six or seven girls leading up to Christmas Eve. However the story itself runs, in the best way I can describe it, as if it has parallel universes. So no, he is not dating multiple girls at the same time... technically. Specifically, the story, which is divided in to 4 episode arcs per girl, highlights the different stories that come with Junichi's relationships with each of the six girls to hopefully get the Christmas Eve date he was not able to get beforehand. To specify even more, aftereach arc ends, time resets to a time prior to the days leading up to Christmas Eve and another girl gets to be with him.

Saying all that, Amagami SS+ Plus season/show is run in the same format as the previous but in a 12 episode format - 2 episode arcs for each of the 6 girls (though it seems as if MyAnimeList is not that sure of the episode count). The story, while not necessarily kicking off right where each arc in the first ended, adds on to those stories. That said, because of the unique nature of the show, and because it is a direct sequel, going through the first season is a must to watch SS+ Plus.

Without spoiling anyone (those who have not entered the whole series series included), I'll just say that the story is nothing too major, and personally and quite frankly, with the exception of Sakurai Rihoko's arc and maybe one or two more at best that may show up in the next few weeks (the show is still airing at the moment this review is being made), the story is not anything too mindblowing - I cannot stress this enough in this review. As a whole, because of the unique composition of Amagami SS, the second season sort of suffers in that each arc is only composed of 2 episodes. This is frankly not enough to write up any major developments to add to the stories established in the first season. Actually, to put it simply, these episodes were probably made just for the fans who were literally dying to see more of the show.

Despite some of downsides I see to the show, I do enjoy it, but I don't commit to it as much as the richer experiences from other 12 episode shows. You will find some if not most of the happy and romantic qualities that the first season had. In regards to conflicts, they, again, are not as drawn out as well as in the first season, but are a decent watch to say the least. I give the show credit for what its worth.

As someone who watched the first season and liked it a decent amount, I though SS+ Plus was good at best. It did what I expected it to do - maybe it added a bit more depth to each of the characters here and there, but I honestly did not find it that necessary to watch - again, apart from one or two good arcs. That's not saying you shouldn't watch it. It's just saying don't expect too much out of it. If you enjoyed and had fun watching Amagami SS, then SS+ Plus will most definitely be a good watch as well. If you have not watched watched the first season, all I can say is that you will feel completely alienated if you watch SS+. While there is some substance for new viewers, it would probably make you think worse of the show, which is not that fair. Take note of that first season before you judge.

*Update after show's end: I can honestly say that the show overall was good. However most of my thoughts did not change over the course of the three or four weeks since the making of this review. Additionally, I'd like to add that Haruka's arc was, although predictable, a really fun and satisfying arc overall, although I'm not sure if I can agree with the show ending with Miya's mini-arc. If the show ended with Haruka, that would have been much better than dragging along the season longer than it should. If anything, this should have been a DVD/BD extra, not an extension of the season run - but I digress.

Often times, many people wonder what happens afterwards. What exactly is "happily ever after"? Amagami SS+, the sequel to the school romance anime, Amagami SS, gives viewers a glimpse of the lives of the six heroines after the conclusion of the first season. Not much has changed in between seasons - artwork, characters, seiyūs and staff all remained more or less the same - so fans of the series will undoubtedly enjoy this continuation. With that being said, although Plus is a sequel, knowledge of the first season is not necessarily mandatory as the basic premise of the story can
be grasped quickly.

Art (8/10)
Simplicity is almost always a good thing. Having clean art with a good amount of detail is generally well-accepted, especially when it comes to a series like Amagami SS in which the art is not focused on too much. I found the character designs to be very normal and plain, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The style is something I see very often but that is what makes it easy for my eyes to digest. Backgrounds that are not too fancy which don't detract my attention from what's happening is very much positive. AIC did a great job with the animation once again.

Characters (7/10)
Let's be honest here, the girls of Amagami SS are far from realistic. Now I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure there are barely any girls in the world who would want someone like Junichi as their boyfriend. The guy, in many ways, is the reincarnation of a human male's inner desires; he doesn't know the line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Not only that, but he's also a blatant pervert and idiotic protagonist. Despite all this, he ends up getting the girl at the end, which is a big reason why I think the characters are unrealistic. Nonetheless, the girls do develop during their own arcs. You can easily see that, after they started dating Junichi, their personalities have changed. While I would've preferred Junichi to not have been such an irritable character, I believe his current personality was used on purpose, in order to enable viewers of similar traits to be able to relate to him and to gain hope (i.e. "if someone like Junichi can get a beautiful girlfriend, then so can I!").

Sound (8/10)
azusa returns for a second season with two more new songs - an OP and an ED - both of which I liked. They also fit their respective positions very well; the OP was high-energy, readying the viewer for the episode to come while the mellow ED wrapped out the episode nicely. BGM was the same as in the first season. Nothing in particular was memorable but it was there and did its job of enhancing scenes without being too obtrusive. No changes in voice acting since all the characters are still the same. Notable seiyūs include Itō Shizuka (Morishima Haruka, Katsura Hinagiku [Hayate no Gotoku!]), Yukana (Nanasaki Ai, C.C. [Code Geass]), and Satō Rina (Tanamachi Kaoru, Misaka Mikoto [To Aru Kagaku no Railgun]). Unfortunately, there were no insert songs unlike in season one.

Story (8/10)
The omnibus format follows from the first season into the second. Each girl gets their own two-episode arc that introduces a problem before solving it. The purpose of these problems is to strengthen each of the girls' relationship with Junichi. It's realistic in a sense because real life relationships always contain ups and downs, even if the couple has just started dating. The different stories evoke a wide variety of emotions and appeal to viewers of diverse preferences. Personally, I thought some of the arcs were too rushed as there were only two episodes available for the problem to be introduced and solved.

Overall (8/10)
As a fan of Amagami SS, I definitely enjoyed Plus. Seeing my favorite Amagami girls in action again was a real treat. I would've liked for it to be 24 episodes but, alas, you can't have everything go your way. At this point, I think it's safe to say that this is going to be the last of Amagami SS, in terms of TV series. It's been a good 38 episodes and I'm satisfied with how things went. I would recommend this show to those who want to watch a nice, relaxing shōnen romantic comedy. You won't be disappointed!

I'll be writing a review for this because I absolutely fell in love with this series.

Also, this review will be for both seasons.

There will probably be spoilers.

Amagami SS and SS+ Plus is a story about Tachibana, Junichi. A young man who got stood up on a Christmas date, leaving him traumatized and afraid to fall in love. Two years later, he'll encounter a certain woman. A woman who'll bring him back up to his feet and learn to love once again.

Amagami SS is based on a PS2 Dating sim and is viewed in an omnibus format. Basically, there are 4 episodes (For
the first season) for each of the 6 heroines and those 4 episodes tell what happens if Junichi goes after a specific girl.

Amagami SS+ is the second season and it shows the events that took place after each of the first season's arcs. So I suppose you can say it's basically an epilogue to the first series.

The story itself is pretty much cliche. But I can't really blame anyone. The series is based off a dating sim. A traumatizing event in the past like that has probably been used before in other dating sim/anime. But I do find each of the story arcs to be romantic, cute and sweet (Except for Rihoko's first season arc. I was quite disappointed they didn't end up with each other. The second season Rihoko arc makes up for it though) The show is pretty light on the heart and it doesn't cause much heart-wrenching feels (Which is good in my case 'cause I have a weak heart)

The characters are enjoyable in their own way. They're pretty unique from each other and each of them has their own charm. Though I have to say Junichi is a tad bit generic. He's the average high-school student. But as each story develops, he does get a bit unique (Depending on which story arc he's in) But I like him. He's childish, supportive, loving, caring, a bit clueless, reckless and he'd go out of his way to make the girl he loves happy. He reminds me of me, sometimes.

The art is pretty good. Though the quality of the art did drop at certain points like at the start of Nakata, Sae's arc. The animation is pretty smooth. No complaints there. The sound and the voice acting was also very good. I especially loved Morishima, Haruka and Tachibana, Miya's voice acting for some reason.

My favorite heroine will have to be either Sakurai, Rihoko or Tanamachi, Kaoru. Rihoko is bubbly cute and adorable. She's innocent and honest and has a big appetite. Kaoru is mischievous but also very hardworking.

Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable anime. Cute romance here and there. Some slight feels, but that makes the romance all the more satisfying. And you'll enjoy each of the heroines arcs because their own stories are pretty unique from one another.

The music for Amagami SS+ Plus (is that said Amagami SS plus plus?) was pretty much the same quality as the first season. Alright.

There's a nice mini-story for each of the girls, which serve to more fully flesh out their relationships with Junichi. Honestly, these episodes should have been stuffed into the first season to make things feel more complete. If I could go to my past self, I'd tell him to watch the 4-episodes arcs of Season 1 and then the 2-episode arcs of Season 2 for each girl together. Seriously. Try it out.

The art still has me
going "meh." The background art is completely fine, but I just straight up dislike the art style for the characters. Meh. Same as the first season.

The characters are pretty much the same as the first season, but it's nice to see how they get along with Junichi after the fact.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this season more than the first one. If you really liked Season 1 of Amagami SS, you'll love this season. If you didn't, Season 2 might redeem it for you, but probably not. If Season 1 was Oreos, Season 2 would be the milk. A typical vanilla cake of an anime with cute sprinkles on top gives Amagami SS+ Plus a final score of 7.